CIAO DATE: 06/2009

9/11 and the Paradox of American Power

December 2008

The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs

Abstract

The September 2001 attacks on the United States facilitated the formation of an effective domestic consensus on post-Cold War US globalism - a goal that had eluded the Clinton administration. The centerpiece of that consensus is the "war on terrorism." This puts US global engagement in a "war-fighting" framework, which has strong institutional, cultural, and ideological resonances in the American polity. And it admits both neo-conservative and neo-liberal varieties. However, the attendant surge in US military activism has proved both fabulously expensive and largely counter-productive. Moreover, it has helped undermine America's already-troubled hegemonic position within the Western and allied camp.

Resource link: 9/11 and the Paradox of American Power [PDF] - 185K